Anglesey 30th May 2009

With the clutch problems all sorted we crossed to the other side of the country for the first of 2 visits this year to Anglesey.  These 2 rounds would be run on the full length 2.6 mile International GP circuit which we didn’t do last year and so Paul was fortunate to get some practice in on the day before and get to grips with the 2 additional straights and the hairpin

The bike felt really good and we were eager to get on the pace for racing on Saturday.

Race 1

The weather was as good as its gets with beautiful blue skies, a gentle breeze and temperatures up in the high 20’s.  If anything a little too hot for the tyres, but nothing we should moan about!
Paul lined up on the 2nd row in 6th place even though he was actually 7th in the championship but with Paul Noble absent it was a chance to gain a position in the table as there was just 1 point between the 2 riders.
With the repaired clutch it was a lot easier to get the bike off the line and Paul followed the leading pack into the first corner.  A big accident on the 3rd lap brought out the red flags and it was going to be a full restart.
Another reasonable start but the guys ahead were really flying so Paul settled into a rhythm behind.  Mike Moulai was caught out with the extra laps caused by the restart and ran out of fuel after 5 laps which left Paul to finish in 5th place with plenty of space back to 6th but also much ground to make up to 4th.

Race 2

5th place on the grid is a great place to start as its right behind pole position and Paul made full use of it when the red lights went out to start the second race of the day.  A slight drop in tyre pressures from race 1 enabled him to push more through a couple of the corners and although Moulai came past having started at the back of the grid Paul was holding on to the leading pack.
At around halfway through the leading 4 had a reasonable lead but was soon to be 3 as Charlie Wilson crashed out and Paul was 2 or 3 seconds behind John Coughlan.  By pushing hard and using the slight power advantage of the Suzuki over the Aprilia Paul was able to catch him up with 2 laps to go and outbraked Coughlan into the hairpin.
Paul knew that Coughlan was good into the last corner and so tried hard to keep him behind as they went towards the last lap.  However he pushed just a little too hard and was very close to crashing out.  But he still had position on Coughlan and rode as hard as he could for the last lap.
It was nerve racking for Paul as he had no idea how much of a lead he had and when they came round the hairpin for the last time and headed for the last corner it was obviously time for a last gasp effort by Coughlan.  Paul didn’t want to repeat the near disastrous attempt to get around the corner of the previous lap and so braked a little earlier and saw Coughlan cruise up the inside.
But Paul held his cool and watched the Aprilia miss the apex of the corner and run wide on the exit.  By cutting back in and getting on the power as early as possible Paul was able to fire out of the corner a lot harder than the bike ahead of him but it was so close over the line.
Paul shrugged his shoulders on the slowing down lap as he wasn’t sure what the actual result was but a friendly marshal sat at the side of the track pointed, waved and clapped suggesting Paul had done it.
Sure enough, as the result sheet was produced Paul had got over the line 2 thousandths of a second in front! His best result of the year so far, 4th place.

Anglesey 31st May 2009

Race 1
It had been a long time since Paul was on the front row but now he was on the inside line which could be tricky.  As the lights went out the bikes roared away and Paul made a great start as they headed for the first corner.  A quick gear change up into 2nd gear and suddenly they bike had no power and it felt like a missed gear.  Stabbing the lever again and the bike revved like it was in neutral again.  Something was badly wrong and Paul survived the first corner as the whole pack powered past.  When it was safe he took a glance down and the chain was hanging off the back sprocket and so the only thing was to pull off the track.  Race over!
When we got back it was obvious that the chain had snapped and jumped off the sprocket, shearing teeth off that too.
So with a new chain and rear sprocket fitted we were ready to race for the last time that weekend.

Race 2

However, due to non-finish in race 1 Paul was back in 19th place with a lot of work to do.  It was going to be virtually impossible to get up with the leaders so Paul rode sensibly to get past as many bikes as he could and settle into a rhythm that bought him home in a comfortable 6th place.

And so, overall a good weekend marred slightly with 1 DNF but some decent results showing that we can run close to the front now.